English Living Abroad

I've started a new Linked In page for English Living Abroad. It's an amazing network of professionals who share networks of colleagues and business partners. I've signed up to be a member of a large number of German groups who are on Linked In and I think they will be an incredible resource for the launching of ELA. I've done some preliminary searching and I have found members who actually live in Germany, so they will serve as great contacts as I try to break into the local business communities of German cities.

It's pretty easy to find me - just go to www.linkedin.com and search for English Living Abroad. Hope to see you there!

I was reviewing my web stats the other day and I've noticed a trend over the last few months that surprised me and might surprise you. The top keyword phrases that pull up English Living Abroad are all related to religion. People who are trying to find a church in Dresden, specifically.

This is really funny, to me, because when we were moving to Dresden, I searched all over the web to find an English speaking congregation in Dresden. Nothing really came up. I eventually found an American church website that referred to an American family that had a Christian English speaking congregation. I did find their email and was able to contact them about their services. I couldn't believe how difficult it was to find churches. Especially considering that if there were any English speaking churches in Dresden - wouldn't their main goal be to advertise themselves in a way that people moving there could find them?

So creating a page for English speaking worship services was one of my main goals for ELA and clearly it is providing a service. Occaisionally I will even get an email from a congregation updating their information. I wish there were more contact though. In my first ELA website I did provide a way for churches and non-profits to create a free website through ELA if they needed one. No one took me up on it for two years! So now it is not currently offered, but I plan to break it out again in the future when I am ready to do some more agressive contact with local groups.

You can check out the reglion page at http://www.englishlivingabroad.com/dresden/living/religion.shtml. Please send updates to the link at the bottom of the page.

Auf Wiederschauen, Melissa

One of my favorite websites in the US is www.craigslist.org. They offer free job listings, items for sale and social networking. It's all over the world now and a Dresden page has been recently added. Just go to the website, choose your country and city and see what's going on. It's used fairly actively in Berlin, but some of the new cities don't have a lot of participation yet. Check it out and then pass it on to your friends. If you can get it going in your city it will really be a big hit!

There are some other good links to social networking sites on my English Living Abroad website at http://www.englishlivingabroad.com/dresden/living/contacts.shtml.

Melissa

If you plan to conduct business with Germans or will be spending a lot of time with Germans in their homes, it would be wise to educate yourself in the subtleties of German etiquette. You can begin by reading the information provided at Business German and Kwintessential.

Here are a few of the basics:

Greetings:

• When entering a store or greeting someone say "Guten Morgen" (good morning) "Guten Tag" (good day) or "Guten Abend" (good evening).
• When leaving you can say good-bye formally "Auf Wiedersehen" or informally "Tschüs".
• To thank someone you can say "Danke" and they will reply "Bitte" as it is used as "your welcome". Bitte is also used as "please".

Eating:

• When invited to the home of a German for a meal, be sure to bring a small gift such as flowers, wine or chocolates. If you bring flowers, make sure you take the paper off before handing to your host.
• Most restaurants expect you to seat yourself.
• When eating with Germans, food may arrive at different times and it is all right to begin eating as soon as the host says "Guten Appetit".
• When you are done with your meal, place your fork and knife parallel on the plate to indicate you are finished.
• You will have to ask for the bill at a restaurant. Simply say "Die Rechnung, bitte". You will pay your bill at the table and the wait staff will make your change at the table. If you would like to give a tip hand it directly to your waiter.

Train Travel:

• Germans are quiet in public, so keep your conversations low and do not engage in boisterous behavior.
• Do not use other seats for your shopping bags or luggage. Stow them in the overhead rack.
• Stretching your legs out onto the seat in front of you is tolerated if there are plenty of seats available, but place something under your feet to avoid leaving dirt.

Hello everyone,

While living in Dresden in 2005 I came up with an idea. This blog will be my record of the progress of that idea. Many times I've considered abandoning the project due to lack of time or faith that I could be successful. Today I am putting a stake in the ground and proclaiming that I will be successful, I will figure out how to do this and since I'm proclaiming this publically - I guess I kinda have to now!

It all started with my husband's company (Lam Research) sending him to Dresden, Germany to work for a few months. Well, this made me estatic! My dream has always been to live in Europe for at least 6 months. I figure, that's the least I can dream for and actually achieve - right? - don't want to wish for too much! So anyway, Ken went to Dresden - fell in love immediately with the architecture and beauty and with the help of his boss, Kate, found us an adorable flat in a lovely villa in Weiser Hirsch. So a month later me and our two teenage girls joined him.

The first morning I woke up it was snowing (I've lived 15 years in Texas - so no snow!), I told Ken he'd brought me to a fairyland. I was entranced, engaged, in love, and obessed! In no time at all my active brain was churning with the question "How can I travel Europe and make money doing it?" Or at the very least, write the trip off my taxes! Well, I just happen to be a freelance graphic and web designer - so could I get German clients? - hmmm, not likely - i don't speak the language! So the thought sat in my head while I continued my love affair with this beautiful city.

While I was in love with Dresden - everyday living was certainly a challenge! It took me two weeks to find someone who could hook up my internet. As a freelance web designer - you can imagine how stressed I was. Buying cell phones - OMG! How many places did I go where no one spoke English and I was completely confused and lost as to what to do? Where was I to shop? Where could I do laundry? The questions were endless and I had no one to ask.

After I suffered through the first month, stress under control and main functions in life actually functioning - my idea wound it's way to the front of my brain - as wha la - an idea formed...

If I was stressed out and confused about how to set up a home and a life in Dresden - how many other people were just like me? I suspected a lot! Since I was a great web researcher - considering that is my business - I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that there were very few resources on the web to help people like me. And as our world was only getting more and more global - the numbers of stressed out, confused expats were only going to increase - so - could I help? - actually I could! I know how to build websites. Darn good ones too.

So that's what I did. I spent months translating German websites and digging and digging and digging to find information. I purchased every German travel book on the shelves and read them to find the tips that could apply to expats, not just travelers. After several months of writing and working with my programmer to build the site, it was born - it's called www.EnglishLivingAbroad.com. You should check it out.

So that was in 2005 and now 2008 is coming to a close. There was a bump in the road of my plan and that was called "moving to Connecticut", which is a whole other story....

So now I'm back in Texas, completely againist my will. Hating every minute of it. But I'm the kind of girl who likes to make lemonaide out lemons (American phrase - not sure if it is global). And I''m the kind of girl who takes advantage of opportunities. So here is my opportunity. I'm working from home as a freelancer, in a city that bores me to death and I'm not going to waste that time. I'm going to make this happen.

So where am I now with ELA? I've spent 2008 hiring translators/writers over Craigslist in Germany (thanks Craig - you're my inspiration!) I now have content for several German cities written by people who live in the cities or spend a lot of time there. My website is newly redesigned with new features and Dresden is just about complete. A few more days from now I will begin building the next city and by the end of September I will have a website for Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne. I also have a writer working on three more cities.

So how am I going to make money off this? By letting businesses advertise of course! My site has a handy local business directory that will allow local businesses to post information about the services in English - there is a small batch listed for Dresden already. Then I hope to sell banner ads to larger businesses that need to target the expat community. But that story will told another day....